Dodie Horton's 10 Commandments law ruled 'coercive' and 'unconstitutional' by federal judge
Plus — Governor's tax reform plan moving forward. Airline Drive offramp nightly closures.
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Beyond Bossier
College football playoff bracket: What the 12-team field looks like
House Speaker Mike Johnson faces resistance to his leadership
Dodie Horton's 10 Commandments law ruled 'coercive' and 'unconstitutional' by federal judge
A Louisiana law that will require schools to place displays of the Ten Commandments in every classroom is “coercive” and “unconstitutional,” according to the federal judge who issued an order Tuesday that stops the law from taking effect Jan. 1.
Nine families have sued the state, arguing the new law amounts to the state endorsing a religion and conflicts with the First Amendment.
Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill, who is defending the law sponsored by Haughton's State Rep. Dodie Horton, maintains the Ten Commandments have historic standing as a foundational document for U.S. law.
“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision and will immediately appeal,” Murrill said in a statement.
In a social media post, the attorney general noted the ruling applies only to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the four parish school boards that are named defendants in the lawsuit.
“School boards are independently elected, local political subdivisions in Louisiana,” Murrill wrote. “Only five school boards are defendants, therefore the judge only has jurisdiction over those five. This is far from over.”
The new law, signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, requires 11-by-14-inch displays along with an accompanying “context statement” that explains the commandments’ role in education. It applies to any school that accepts state money, including colleges and universities. The schools are not compelled to spend money on the posters though they can accept donated materials.
U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, a federal court appointee of President Barack Obama to Louisiana’s Middle District Court in Baton Rouge, said in his 177-page opinion that the plaintiffs would more than likely prevail in their case. He wrote that the law amounts to coercion because families must ensure their minor children attend school.
Defendants in the case include Louisiana K-12 Superintendent Cade Brumley, members of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the school boards from East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Tammany and Vernon parishes.
The plaintiffs argue Louisiana’s law violates the long-standing precedent from Stone v. Graham, a 1980 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned a similar statute in Kentucky.
Landry welcomed a legal challenge of the new law before he signed it, predicting the Supreme Court would uphold the measure. He and other conservatives have been buoyed by a 2022 ruling from justices in favor of a high school football coach in Washington state who was fired after praying at midfield after games and allowing students to join him. After the 6-3 decision in Bremerton v. Kennedy, the coach was rehired at the school.
“I cannot wait to be sued,” the governor said at a June fundraiser for Republicans in Tennessee.
– By Greg Larose/Louisiana Illuminator
Governor's tax reform plan moving forward
Key provisions of Gov. Jeff Landry's plan to cut personal income and corporate taxes passed the state House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The House voted 87-12 to shift individual income tax rates to a flat 3% and 83-14 to eliminate the corporate franchise tax.
These bills, which now move to the Senate, are designed to shift revenue collection in the state to sales taxes on more items and away from income taxes as a bid to make Louisiana more attractive to taxpayers and businesses.
“We’re trying to put more money in the pockets of Louisiana citizens so they can choose on the sales tax side what they purchase,” said Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, who shepherded the bills through the House floor.
Raising the standard deduction
In addition to setting a 3% flat tax, the bill would raise the standard deductions for individuals. Currently, individual income tax rates are tiered, increasing as incomes rise. The maximum tax level is just over 4%.
Emerson said that individual income taxes punish those who make more money. Anyone who makes more than $12,500 per year would receive lower rates, she said. The average income in Louisiana in 2022 was around $30,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“This is our attempt to consolidate it into a flat tax which we believe is more fair,” Emerson said.
Some Democrats have countered that collecting more money from sales taxes is unfair to residents with lower incomes.
The elimination of the corporate franchise tax, which is a tax merely to own property or conduct business in the state, would begin on Jan. 1, 2026, with certain business tax credits ending on June 30, 2025. Emerson and her allies argued that this move would attract out-of-state business to Louisiana.
“The best thing about this tax is that it has zero impact on the state general fund,” Emerson said, referring to the state’s ability to spend money. She went on to explain that all funds received from the corporate franchise tax go directly into the Revenue Stabilization Fund, a state trust fund.
Some representatives expressed their worries about who would gain the most from the removal of the tax.
“Where would the savings from eliminating this tax go to?” asked Democratic Rep. Matthew Willard of New Orleans, implying that corporate stakeholders, rather than workers in Louisiana, would receive the most significant advantages.
Rep. Mandie Landry, also a New Orleans Democrat, expressed her concern, implying that this repeal would unfairly favor non-Louisianian corporations at the expense of local-owned businesses.
“This is mostly going to benefit out-of-state corporations,” Landry said.
Emerson described the franchise tax as “regressive” and “arbitrary” and claimed its repeal would allow Louisiana to attract more businesses to the state overall, which might choose other states with more advantageous tax systems.
Tax reform: a package deal
Emerson said each part of the package, including a proposal to start charging sales taxes on many business services, works together to compensate for the loss in money caused by cutting income taxes.
“The package all works together to get as close to revenue neutral as possible,” she said. However, some representatives were uncertain about how that would work out in reality.
Many of the bills' criticisms had a similar theme: Why is the Legislature voting on creating a revenue loss without knowing if it will also pass the measures to make up the money?
“So we’re supposed to vote on cutting the budget by about a billion dollars a year without roughly knowing now how we’re going to plug it?” asked Landry, the Democratic lawmaker.
Bills seeking to fill the revenue loss will go before the House in the coming days. One bill features a list of nearly 50 “luxury services” like car towing and pet grooming that would be subject to sales tax.
Other legislation eliminates or reduces tax exemptions that certain businesses and industries, such as the film industry, use to make movies in Louisiana.
Paving the way for a permanent teacher pay raise
The House also approved a complex series of provisions on Tuesday that will go before voters on March 29. Lawmakers would transfer certain tax benefits, like the $75,000 homestead exemption on property taxes, from the state Constitution to state statute. Each bill passed with about 80 votes.
The changes would also merge two state savings accounts, double the standard deduction on income tax forms for seniors and exempt prescription drug purchases from local sales taxes.
It would pave the way to give teachers a $2,000 raise by using $2 billion in education trust funds to pay down a portion of the teachers retirement system debt and use the savings on debt service to pay for the raises. The proposal would give school support workers a $1,000 raise.
– By Ella Ray and Grace Thompson/LSU Manship School News Service
Nightly closure: I-20 eastbound off-ramp at Airline Drive
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development advises motorists that beginning tonight, Wednesday, November 13, 2024, the I-20 eastbound off-ramp at Airline Drive (LA 3105) in Bossier City will be closed.
This ramp closure is scheduled to take place over five nights from approximately 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. each night. It is necessary to allow construction activities to take place as part of the ongoing I-20 major rehabilitation project.
As a reminder, the project is currently in the process of transitioning into Phase 3 (final phase), with ongoing traffic shifts occurring in both the eastbound and westbound directions. Traffic is being shifted onto the newly constructed inside travel lanes so demolition and removal of the old outside lanes can begin.
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I am 100% in favor of this!